Embodiments of the inventive concept relate generally to methods of operating a data storage device. More particularly, embodiments of the inventive concept relate to a methods of operating a data storage device wherein the size of a user region in memory may be increased by reducing the size of a reserved region in memory.
Portable electronic devices must operate reliably despite a limited quantity of hardware, firmware and software resources. Portable electronic devices, such as smart phones and tablet personal computers (PCs), update a constituent operating system (OS) image using techniques commonly referred to as firmware over-the-air (FOTA). In order to accommodate FOTA updates, it is conventionally necessary for portable electronic devices to reserve a first memory region of sufficient size to temporarily store a “new” OS image. Thus, the first memory region must always be reserved in available memory despite being used only when the OS image is updated, and since the first memory region is relatively large this constitutes a waste of valuable OS memory resources.
Further, once a new OS image is stored in (or downloaded to) the first memory region, the existing (or “old”) OS image is overwritten with the new OS image in a second memory region. Hence, two write operations are usually required, and given the relatively large size of an OS image, the time required to successfully perform an OS image update may be quite long.
Additionally, should a sudden power off (SPO) event occurs while the old OS image in the second memory region is being overwritten with the new OS image from the first memory region, the entire new OS image stored in the first memory region must usually be rewritten to the second memory region from the beginning.